


iv; the tail has turned

by alifetime



Series: wolf pups [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alpha Diego Hargreeves, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Beta Number Six | Ben Hargreeves, Big Brother Diego Hargreeves, Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, No Incest, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Omega Number Five | The Boy, Platonic Relationships, Protective Diego Hargreeves, but we move, diego being protective of five is my weakness okay, even tho he's the youngest brother, five and diego feels, it's not graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:49:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29904819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alifetime/pseuds/alifetime
Summary: It was one of the only—only—times Five wished he had listened to his siblings’ pestering. But his pride was too strong which had him staggering along an empty pathway to breach the academy before these alphas grabbed him.-“At least let me scent you.”“No.”“It’s dangerous for an omega to go out at this time of night—”“And here you go assuming that omegas can’t take care of themselves again!” Five has had enough. Diego was too overbearing for his taste and if going out on his own nearing midnight and coming back in one piece would prove Diego wrong, then Five was going to do it.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)
Series: wolf pups [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024606
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	iv; the tail has turned

**Author's Note:**

> oops ... it's been a long time but man's got exams coming up and i wanna die :)))))) also the motivation for writing lately hasn't been there but i wanted to get this up. 
> 
> apologies for any mistakes

Five was having one of those days, you know? The type of days when you’re pissed off at everyone and you can’t be asked to waste a word of anything on anyone. 

The reason? Diego. Of course, it was Diego—it was always either Diego or Klaus. That damn, prideful and overbearing alpha would run this household if he didn’t have someone like Luther to put him in his place. And even then, Luther was a huge pushover. Diego might as well take over with how overbearing he was. And it wasn’t as if Vanya had anything to say about it. Although there was a hint of sympathy in her eyes every time Diego berated Five like a child, she never stepped in to help. Both Vanya and Luther were useless alpha’s. (No, he didn’t mean that. He’s just pissed off).

“I am this close to sinking my fangs into your neck.” The threat wasn’t as empty as Diego thought it was; good, he should be worried. But with Five’s puny stature puppy anger radiating in waves across the hallway, Diego couldn’t help but smirk. Five scowled. “Fuck you— _ fuck you, _ you misogynistic piece of—”

“Hey, hey,” Diego said gently, unwilling to allow Five succumb to this amount of anger. He knew where it was coming from—his heat was a week away, as was Allison’s, and the two had been more easily irritated than usual. Well, Allison had, Five’s had just amplified by a good 50%. “Calm yourself, old man. I’m not saying you can’t go.”

“That’s not what I’m annoyed about, asshole,” grumbled Five. “You’re acting like an over-protective mother-hen. Ain’t that supposed to be an omega’s job?”

“Oh, now look who’s being sexist,” Diego said with his eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly. “Why won’t you let me come with you?”

Without remaining eye-contact, Five clenched his fingers in and out, trying to steady his frantic breathing. If Diego didn’t know any better, he would have guessed Five was in the midst of trying to stop an oncoming anxiety attack. 

“Need I remind you that I’m older than you—”

“That’s not the point, Five.” Diego tried to refrain from bristling too much, but the stubborn little shit wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. “You don’t look 59, do you? You look barely past twelve years old, newly presented—there are some sick fucks out there.”

“I survived an entire apocalypse by myself—!”

“There was no one around! No one could have hurt you!”

Silence followed. Perhaps Diego was being a little overbearing. The pup wanted some time alone, away from the academy and away from his siblings. No matter how much Five tries to deny it, he loved his siblings, if stopping the disasters from the past was anything to go by. But no matter how much you love someone, it’s easy to become disinterested and irritated. 

“Five—”

“Can you guys  _ please _ argue a little quieter, for the love of God!”

Both looked up towards Klaus who was nursing the side of his head, looking thoroughly vexed. 

Diego blanched. “Are you hungover?”

Five took this time to step away, blinking towards his room in a heartbeat. He was still shaking from anger and his palms were coated in a cold sweat. He felt humiliated, patronised to a point he hadn’t felt since The Handler. Deep down, he knew his brother meant no harm, but what’s done is done. Five was angry and what came with rage came ignorance. Although Five was by no means foolish to Diego’s fears, his mind continued reeling back to the unapologetic look Diego had been giving him; thinking an omega who physically looked thirteen wouldn’t stand a chance out in the dense city so late at night. 

For the rest of the day, Five sulked in his room. Allison tried giving him some lunch, but he wasn’t having it. Even Diego had the nerve to try talking to him, but Five gave him no time of the day. He missed dinner to spite Diego, and he couldn’t help but smirk to himself, imagining the berating he would get for such a careless act. Irresponsible, because his body was weak, no matter how much he didn’t care to admit it. 

When it depicted evening, Five came out of his room. The academy was quiet, and Five almost felt like a young child again, sneaking out with his siblings to grab some doughnuts. Which you could argue was what he was doing now.

However, that didn’t last very long because someone was grabbing his wrist. Five blinked a few feet away, in time to see Diego almost stumbling for his balance. 

“Leave. Me. Alone.” 

“At least let me scent you.”

“No.”

“It’s dangerous for an omega to go out at this time of night—”

“And here you go assuming that omegas can’t take care of themselves again!” Five has had enough. Diego was too overbearing for his taste and if going out on his own nearing midnight and coming back in one piece would prove Diego wrong, then Five was going to do it. 

“I’m not assuming—!”

“Fuck you, Diego.” He didn’t care about the consequences at this point. He blinked, not bothering to spare a reaction from his youngest brother, and found himself in one of the back alleys of the academy. He straightened his uniform, a small smile playing on his lips. 

He was just out to get a drink, that’s all. The new lady in charge of the doughnut shop was friendly, always greeting him with some coffee and a sweet pastry. It would be too easy to prove Diego wrong. 

The lady had welcomed him with a kind smile and immediately got to work. Her scent was faded, but Five felt oddly comforted by the Omega pheromones. He always had, from a young age, whenever he spent time with his old nanny, who was also an Omega. She was strict, but in a motherly type of way—a way which Five as a toddler soaked up as much as possible because he nor the other’s had any affection from the one Alpha in their life, their father. And when he had presented as an omega in the apocalypse, all he could think of was the kindness from his nanny, and the motherly love he received from Grace. The comfort from Vanya and Ben had also helped him through his fever-induced heats, knowing that despite how much he would growl at them to stay back, he would admittedly seek for their comfort. 

And as he was sipping at his coffee and nibbling at his waffle, his mind drifted back to Diego. They had both acted strongly, and he was still pissed at his youngest brother, but he also understood why Diego was so … overprotective. Five could look after himself, but it didn’t stop the silent dread whenever he saw an Alpha. When he had taken the Handler up on her offer, her Alpha presence did nothing to calm him, even though his heats by that point had deteriorated years beforehand. All the Alpha’s that had dominated the workspace left him uneasy, and when he ventured out on his assassinations, more often than not, he had been belittled by alpha’s in the past who somehow had gotten close enough to determine his faded Omega pheromones. 

Trivializing omega’s from all century’s had grown this subtle anger towards alphas, however, he knew, from looking between Diego, Luther and Vanya, that most alphas were decent people. Alphas had a natural protective instinct, and Five guesses he shouldn’t have been so hard on Diego. 

As soon as he had finished his waffle—which the lady had made sure to coat with maple syrup and marshmallows (she never let him live it down how skinny he was)—he took the last sip of the coffee and left his money. (Which he definitely did not steal from Allison, thank you very much). The lady had just finished attending to another woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties with another, a friend of hers’s. 

He left, feeling childishly confident in the night. Showing himself to Diego after a simple night out to their favourite doughnut shop would hopefully be a slap in the face. The walk was never long, and perhaps he should venture out further in the middle of the night to prove to Diego he was, in fact, more capable of looking after himself than Diego ever would be. He was petty, okay? 

However, his confidence was short-lived. 

“What’s a little omega like you doing out so late at night?”

Five stopped with his heart hammering but braved turning around glaring menacingly at the two women whom he had seen in the doughnut shop. They both radiated Alpha pheromones, lustful and predatory. Both towered over him, the typical alpha stance and their fangs were bared. 

“Minding my own business, you know how it is,” Five answered. “Could I ask you two the same thing? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t give a shit.”

The first alpha laughed. “You’re an impudent little paederast*, aren’t you?”

“Couldn’t say,” said Five, rolling his eyes at such an out-of-date insult. “I’m not the one lurking behind closed alley’s and watching little boy’s go about their evening.”

The second Alpha licked her lips and circled Five. Both were either side of him, and Five, oddly enough, still didn’t feel threatened. Perhaps if he were defenceless, he would, but they didn’t have teleporting powers as he did. He didn’t flinch when the alpha behind him slid her slimy fingers over his shoulder, but he did tense when her breath wafted by his neck and ear, fangs too close to his scent gland for his liking. 

“He’s not mated.”

“Lady, I’m a minor,” he stated, boredom lacing his voice. He would have loved to of announced his actual age, but it would be more of an advantage to drive home his young age physically. “I don’t know what century you came from, but there is something called ‘age of consent’.” He twisted around and snatched her wrist, squeezing tightly—her eyes widened slightly. “Not that I would ever let any of you heatstallers* take me to your beds.”

She ripped her wrists away from him and he could admit that he hadn’t seen the slap to the face coming. It stung, and his lip split, but it wasn’t anything he would cry about. “Perhaps we should teach you some manners,” said the first alpha. “Seeing as you don’t know how to address your elders.”

They must be from the mafia, thought Five. No alpha he’s seen on the streets are quite-so unique like these alphas. Perhaps they were from the 19th century. 

Then, before he could come back with the remark, the second alpha was groping him. He didn’t waste time in teleporting, heart racing as he miscalculated slightly. He appeared only a couple of metres away from them, back against a damp, brick wall. The two alphas looked taken aback, and Five ignorantly thought they would leave him alone. Instead, smiles broke out onto their faces, as if they enjoyed the challenge. 

They were running at him and he wasted no time in blinking and pinning the first alpha to the ground. The second tried coming up behind him but he easily blinked again and knocked her over. Despite being stronger with the advantage of his powers, they put up a fight. To the point, they stumbled into a back alley and one of them had pinned his hands above his head against the wall and immediately nuzzled his scent gland. And that was the worst part because Five felt his knees suddenly become weak to her hold and his heart had nearly given out. He whimpered, tears gathering in his eyes; he was finally beginning to feel the power these two held over him and he was … he was  _ scared.  _

“Let. Me.  _ Go! _ ” He growled out weakly, trying his best to push against them. He couldn’t concentrate to rip the forces between time and space to blink away. It was so damn pathetic of him to just sit there and let it happen. 

“Shh, shh, you’re okay,” said the one pinning him to the wall. The first one was behind her, eyes glazed over in alpha lust and Five was humiliated when tears finally fell past his eyes. “A little pup like you should feel honoured—having us two to teach you how a little bitch  _ should _ behave.”

Five bared his fangs in his last attempt at intimidation but it didn’t work—it was times like this that he truly missed his older body; he was trapped in this puny, pathetic excuse of a child’s body, and he looked so defenceless, unable to stand up for him, and supposedly it didn’t help he was always wearing a schoolboy’s uniform. Why hadn’t he listened to Diego?

The alpha’s hand came to cover his mouth just as the first started working on his clothes. With a push, he opened his mouth and sunk his tiny fangs into her hand. She yelled out in pain, blood spots already forming and pooling over her hands. He then kicked his leg out to the first, and she doubled over in pain. With the last of his energy, he blinked, away from the alley and took off running. 

Tears from his eyes had stopped but he was trembling all over, blinking again and again until he was right before the academy and bursting through the door. And to his dismay, Diego was there, along with Ben, both walking down the stairs and into the hallway. 

Before Five could think of blinking to his room, Diego was running over, growling low in his throat as he takes Five’s shoulders in his hands. And Five almost—almost—relented and let Diego take him into his arms. But then he couldn’t because he was ashamed. Diego had warned him, and his pride had overcompensated the dangers of a young omega going out at night with no one else around. 

“What happened?” demanded Diego as Five pushed away from him. Diego respected his space and let go, and his eyebrows were creased with worry, stopping his growling. “Five—”

_ “Nothing!” _ Five snapped. “I took care of it.” His eyes drifted to Ben, who looked like he too wanted to scoop Five into his arms but stood rigid, unsure of what to do.

“Then why do you smell like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like a complete stranger! There’s two on you!”

“Diego—” Ben started, trying to place a calming hand on the alphas shoulder. Diego smacked it away, growling at his beta brother. “Hey! Calm down!”

“How can I calm down when Five’s smells as if he had just been in and out of an alpha-induced rut session!?”

Ben glared and pushed past Diego, bending down and taking Five’s hands. The omega didn’t pull away, bathing in the beta’s mediocre scent. “Five,” Ben started gently, “what happened?”

There was silence, and Five didn’t speak until Diego also bent down like Ben, both of them making sure that Five had complete control of the situation—to make sure he was looking down at them instead of the other way around. 

“I should have listened to you,” Five muttered bitterly to Diego. “I should have listened to you, and I was stupid.”

The two brothers didn’t have to question anymore. Diego was calm when he smelled no further assault on his pup and instead sighed, lowering his head. They had both been hard on each other this morning, but Five was a stubborn little shit, and Diego had feared that something like this would happen. 

Suddenly, Five yanked his hands away from Ben's, glaring down at them. “I told you I dealt with it. I don’t need your help.” And then, he was gone. 

Ben and Diego looked at each other. Five was stubborn, but he also despised the help of others. It was a great victory that their pup had told them, in a subtle way, what had happened, but it didn’t mean he would admit defeat. (Even though it wouldn’t be admitting defeat at all, it would be admitting that despite the movement towards the protection and justice towards omegas (and betas), that some alphas still get away with too much shit much to most people’s discouragement). Even so, they hated that Five didn’t completely trust them. The least they could do was give him some space. 

*****

Diego didn’t see Five until dinner the next day. Clad in his pyjamas as if he hadn’t left his bed but hair swept to the side neatly. Grace leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of his head and it melted Diego’s heart with how lenient Five was with her. He wished Five would allow them to coddle him but he understood a little why his littlest brother didn’t. 

The dinner was light-hearted and little conversation flowed. Vanya and Allison weren’t there, Allison visiting Clair before her heat struck and Vanya going out with a friend from her rehearsals. It was times like this that Diego desperately wanted Allison here because she always got through to Five in the end. And maybe it was because she was an omega. (It was because of that, Diego wasn’t a fool, but it didn’t make him feel any less good). Their pup refused to look at any of them, and he didn’t bother engaging in conversation with Klaus. 

Whether Five felt fine or not, his pheromones say different. Luther was tense opposite the pup, picking up on Five’s abnormally jittery aura. He glanced at Diego a few times with a raised eyebrow and all Diego could do was send him a glare challengingly. Luther was no threat, but he didn’t like the paranoia of Luther thinking  _ he _ did something to upset Five. 

After dinner, Five, unsurprisingly, made his exit. But not before Klaus reached out to him and Diego suppressed a growl when Five flinched; the flinch was barely there, but Diego saw it. 

“Where are you going in such a hurry, buddy?”

“Don’t call me that.”

Klaus ignored the danger behind that tone. “We haven't seen you in nearly 24 hours.” At Five’s blank expression, the idiot decided to elaborate. “You’re avoiding us and we just wanna spend some quality time with our baby brother.” 

“Yeah, well, I’ve got more important business to attend to. My SATs are soon.” The condescending smile Five gave him made Klaus chuckle and then Five was gone in a spark of blue.

Klaus wasted no time turning to Diego. “Am I missing something?” 

“Why is everyone always looking at me?” exclaimed Diego, slamming his fork down. 

“Maybe because apart from Luther, you’re most likely to offend and upset the kid,” mumbled Ben. His mouth was stuffed full of pancakes, dark circles under his eyes; much like Diego, he hadn’t been doing much but overthinking what happened the other night. Five hadn’t said it, but Diego was rained in looking for those signs. And with two alpha’s clinging to his back?

Luther looked up and glared at Klaus. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, big guy.” Klaus’ smile was brief, turning his gaze back to where Five had been. 

Finally, Diego had had enough and the scraping of his chair made everyone in the room flinch. He hated what he was about to do, but he didn’t know what else to do. And a certain person he needed wasn’t here, so it was about time he picked up his damn phone. 

He could feel all of their eyes on his back as he left the table, food mostly gone but still some untouched, something he never did when it came to grace’s cooking or baking.

The phone he kept in his pocket felt cold from disuse. Anyone would think their family still resided in the 20th century with how little all of them used a smartphone. 

When he made it to the hallway, Diego scrolled until he found Allison’s name and dialled. 

*****

When they were kids, Reginald never gave them the luxury of a bath. Instead, it was always a quick five minutes in showers every morning before breakfast and that was that. And perhaps it was the first time Five enjoyed his time having a bath, but it lasted briefly because he only sat there in the now lukewarm water, skin on his arms and legs rubbed raw and red. A few blisters trailed across his arms and his heart was thrumming wildly, as if those alphas were still on him. 

Subconsciously, he continued to scratch at his scent gland, which had been damp since the day before. It only gained strange looks from Luther at dinner and a menacing look from Diego which almost made him bow his head in submission. But then the thought angered Five, so much that he tried avoiding Diego and Ben as much as possible. He couldn’t stop thinking about how foolish he had been, and it only served to prove Diego right. He shouldn’t have let his pride get the better of him, but when you’re a 58-year-old man trapped inside a teenagers body, it sucks. There was no control to these stupid, teenage hormones combined with a newly presented omega. 

Now, his skin was blistered, his scent gland was itching and he felt as if he could cry any second. 

Eventually, Five did manage to drag himself out of the cooling water and wrap himself up in some pyjamas Allison had gotten him. From beside his table lay his collective notes for the upcoming exams he had to take. They were simple English notes that he rediscovered he hated. He wasn’t bad, he just found maths and physics a lot more interesting. Or perhaps he should have gone a harder route and moved to South Korea where tests were more lethal and actually challenging. 

“Five?”

The knock on his door startled him. It was Diego and Five huffed, turning over on his bed and away from the door. You would think the point of knocking and calling one’s name would signify the act of not wanting to see them. But no, Diego decided it was best to come in anyway and Five made a point of curling further into himself, a scowl set on his face. 

“Five—”

“I didn’t answer your call, therefore leave.”

He could feel the eye roll from behind him. 

Instead of answering Five, Diego shut the door and sat down behind him. Five knew Diego could still smell those damn alphas on him. One of them had scented him—if they hadn’t, he would have been fine. He hadn’t liked them groping him, nor whispering dirty words into his ears, but they had scented him, which in old pack dynamics was claiming him. Nowadays such an act was illegal, scenting each other without consent was considered a crime. But it was always so hard to track those people down, despite their scent being on the wolf. 

A hand found its way to Five shoulder and he tensed, holding back a growl to warn Diego off. From his clenched jaw, he could feel his tiny fangs seeping into his bottom lip enough to bleed. 

“Five.”

Said boy didn’t reply, a low growl finally emitting from his throat. 

“Five, please talk to me—” 

“I don’t need to talk to you about anything.”

“You’re shaking.”

He was, and he squeezed his eyes shut. From what he could hear, his breathing was also a little louder. 

“I-I can’t—”

“Hey… Hey, it’s okay—”

When Five felt Diego move closer, he sat up, flinching away from his touch. “Just-just leave it alone, alright?” Five hated how much Diego looked like a kicked puppy, eyes shining in dismay. “It’s nothing—”

“Five,” Diego said sternly, “I don’t care if you’re 60-years-old or eleven or whatever, those alphas had no right to touch you. Or scent you. It’s not your fault—”

“They shouldn’t have been able to overpower me,” Five admitted weakly. Diego hated seeing him so defeated—it was so uncharacteristic of his brother. “I-it’s my fault.” 

Diego felt a little awkward, not knowing what to say. 

“I should have listened to you.”

Without thinking, Diego found his hand going to Five’s shoulder. His brother didn’t flinch this time, and he neither made a move to let Diego closer. “Yes, you should have.” And there goes his hand and Five nearly rolling off the bed as an escapee. “But … I shouldn't have been so … forceful either. We were both in the wrong.”

The silence between them was becoming too tense for Diego’s liking; he wanted to stay, but he didn’t think Five wanted him there. 

“D-Diego?”

His voice cracked as if he were about to burst into tears. Slowly, and gently, Diego shushed him. “Yeah, yeah? What is it, Five?”

“I … I just—” Five broke himself off. Instead of voicing it, he turned around with his eyes closed and Diego immediately settled against Five’s bed comfortably. 

The whimper had said it all, but Diego was still a little tense as his littlest brother settled on his lap. Even so, his alpha calmed down and allowed him to nuzzle at Five’s scent gland, rubbing away the putrid stench of the alphas from the other night. Five pushed closer, his inner omega crying for his brother to just do something. And Diego relished in that, taking the back of Five’s head and pulling him closer in a tight, protective hold. His shirt became wet by his shoulder, and if the shakes didn’t give Diego any indication for his tears then the tiny sniffling did. 

“Shh, it’s okay…” 

Five let out a frustrated cry which only caused Diego to hush again. He had just managed to place his mark on Five when his little brother pushed away angrily, rubbing vigorously at his scent gland. 

“Five—”

“It’s gone, it’s all gone.”  _ The alpha scents…  _ Diego wasn’t going to push it. 

When Five and Allison’s heats come, Diego tells himself he will stay by Five’s side the entire time. They would all mainly gather around Allison because even in such a disorientated state, he would whine and grumble if they spent too much time around him. However, this time, he was in such a vulnerable state, Diego doesn’t think he will be able to let him go. 


End file.
